Blog Posts: UNFCCC

Adaptation finance accountability is key to addressing obligations of national governments and international organizations to provide support, but actual funding decisions are often made without involving the populations hit first and worst by climate change, or without understanding how communities are vulnerable.

So who is accountable for making good use of adaptation funds, and who should hold whom accountable?

Climate change negotiations at COP 20 in Lima, Peru, have reached their mid-point and are moving into high gear. This week will be crucial as talks continue on a draft international climate agreement due to be concluded in Paris at the end of 2015.

The latest climate science shows us what needs to happen to global emissions to have a likely chance of limiting warming to 2°C, but how do we translate these global numbers to the national level? How can a country design a contribution that is aligned with science when the 2 degree goal will be determined by the actions by all countries?

Imagine that we have the chance to cut greenhouse gas emissions, boost household incomes and increase crop yields, while making vulnerable areas more resilient to severe weather and improving the lives of people in some of the world’s poorest regions.

The fact is, we could do all this and more by restoring the world’s degraded landscapes to productive, sustainable use.

As part of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), countries are currently hard at work to create an international climate agreement by 2015 that can both respond to the growing impacts of climate change and drive a global shift to a low-carbon economy.

At COP 20 in Lima, country representatives are coming together to discuss plans to reign in global greenhouse gas emissions.

A new interactive from WRI reveals the history of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as well as what needs to happen to stay within world’s “carbon budget” and prevent the most disastrous impacts of climate change.

COP 20 is a major milestone on the path to Paris and the 2015 climate agreement.

By narrowing down the options for the agreement and setting the rules of the road for putting forward and evaluating national contributions over the next year, this can be the global climate conference that puts us on the way to an effective, robust, and ambitious agreement.